As We Stumble Along
by ariadne melody
Summary: Stefan and Elena go to a party, and Elena gets a little drunk. Inspired by something Ripper Stefan said, but most definitely fluff/little bit of angst.


**AN**: So I was going to post another season 3 fic, but then I decided something with less angst was in order. The setting of this one is a little vague-it's probably season 2, but it really could be anytime. Reviews would be most welcome, and hope you enjoy!

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><p>They weren't going to go to the party. They were in crisis mode (when weren't they in crisis mode?) and needed to do training or research or something more productive than drinking in the woods with a bunch of classmates. It was more practical to stay in and pour over journals with strange handwriting and stranger tales; maybe that night would be the night where they'd somehow find a solution to their problems.<p>

But Stefan saw the look in Elena's eyes, the faint wistfulness that came across her face whenever she passed up the chance to do something normal and began to think that this night wasn't the night for crisis solutions after all.

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><p>Elena protested at first. She'd been fine with moving the researchplanning session to her house, pleased and surprised when he cooked her dinner, and laughed at first when he asked her if she still wanted to go to the party, thinking he was joking.

"Seriously?" she said. "You want to go get drunk and hang out in the woods?"

"It could be fun," he quirked an eyebrow and smiled.

"Fun," she repeated.

"Fun," he agreed, the smile growing as Elena's slowly began to emerge on her face.

She pulled him close and kissed him and while part of him protested leaving her house (leaving her bedroom), after only an hour, after kissing and pulling clothes off and finding news clothes to put on, they left for the party.

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><p>It took a lot to get Stefan drunk, one vampire "perk" that sometimes wasn't so much of a perk, like when he's trying to control the cravings or when he's trying to be a normal high school student. Elena, apparently, was the opposite, and he hadn't known how much of a lightweight she really was. Sure, he'd noticed that she got tipsy fairly easily, that after a couple of drinks she was overly confident and philosophical and somehow extremely good at getting his clothes off in record time, but he hadn't experienced a truly drunken Elena before. After a couple of hours at the party, her color was high and her steps wild; she kept stumbling on the bridge even with Stefan's arm around her.<p>

"We should go swimming!" Elena slurred as she blurted out the words, rushing to the side of the bridge and peering down into the water. "_Night_ swimming... or falls diving... something."

"Okay, Lena," Stefan pulled her against him; he wasn't worried, not really, but keeping her away from the edges of waterfalls seemed like a good idea. "Easy," he mumbled as she swayed. He waited until she was steady again before attempting to walk with her.

"You love me, don't you?" Elena babbled. "Even with-with things after me and I keep getting kidnapped and bad stuff happens around me all the time and you still stay and I don't know why."

"That's right," Stefan replied cheerfully, though it's comments like that that make him worried. "Careful-"

He lifted Elena slightly so she wouldn't stumble over the tree root and she laughed. "You can fly, can't you?"

"Not exactly."

But Elena had spotted Matt and was already yelling cheerfully at him, wriggling and trying to get out of Stefan's grasp.

Matt wore an amused look on his face as he came over to them. "Hey, Elena" he smiled and Elena hugged him enthusiastically. "She okay?" he asked Stefan.

"She's a little..."

"Drunk?" Matt finished; he wasn't exactly sober either. "Yeah, total lightweight this one. Worse than Caroline."

"Really," Stefan murmured as Elena managed to nearly trip while walking the short space between them, and he easily caught her again.

"Way worse than Caroline," Matt told him. "Always has been."

Elena was running her hand across Stefan's chest, reaching for the zipper on his hoodie, whispering loudly what she wanted to do and the back of Stefan's neck burned.

He looked apologetically at Matt. "Guess we're um, gonna go."

Instead of walking and stumbling through the partygoers, Stefan scooped Elena up into his arms, carrying her through the crowd. Okay, so he was more than a little worried about her, but there was also something...nice about seeing her so loose and carefree rather than so burdened by monsters and the supernatural. She's giggling against his neck, her breath hot and sweet, and Stefan didn't want to let her go.

"Hmm," Elena sighed happily and looked up at him. "You're my.. you're my Stefan."

He kissed her forehead and carefully, gently got her into the car. Elena kept up a cheerful chatter, exclaiming over headlights and pointing out the way the trees danced; Stefan couldn't keep the smile off of his face, finding drunken Elena amusing,. Not so different perhaps from normal Elena (around him she's playful and contemplative, sweet and seductive, more free with him than with anyone else or so she says), but more inclined to babble philosophically. Definitely clumsier.

"I was a cheerleader," Elena told him seriously. Her legs suddenly moved, her feet coming to rest in Stefan's lap. Focus on the road, he told himself, just drive. Don't think about her feet, what they're doing. "I'm still very flexible..."

"I know," Stefan reassured her. Her foot began to inch up his chest, and Stefan had to grab it.

"Baby," Elena giggled for no apparent reason, tilting her head against the car door. "Love. Stefan. _Stefan._ Stefan!"

"Lena-love?" Stefan rubbed her feet.

"I can't see the stars."

"We're almost home and then we can look at the stars."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Elena smiled happily and clumsily shifted, tubbing at her seatbelt and pulling her feet out of Stefan's lap, getting her shirt twisted in the process. Grumbling slightly, she leaned against Stefan, her smile returning when he wrapped his arm around her.

"You smell nice," she mumbled and Stefan laughed out loud and Elena joined in, happy that he was happy.

When they pulled into the Salvatore driveway Elena seemed to be losing some of her energy; still, she fairly leapt out of the car and ran barefoot to the edge of the lawn. Standing there, she swayed a little as she gazed around, taking in her surroundings. Stefan quickly followed, a playful smile on his face.

"This is where we first kissed," Elena had a silly smile on her face as she dropped to the ground, running her hand over the grass. "Our first kiss."

Stefan dropped next to her. "That's right," he murmured, stroking her arm. The Night of the Comet that turned into the Night of the Kiss. He wrapped his arms around her and Elena wriggled happily against him, grabbing his legs.

"I don't look at the stars enough," Elena slurred as she pushed Stefan back against the ground and lay on top of him. Her limbs were floppy and loose around his body, her movements slower now but still a little unsteady. "They're so...small. And sparkly."

Stefan laughed and it reverberated throughout Elena's body, making her feel warm and content. She smiled languidly and looked up at him, stroking his chin. "You know what I love even more than the stars?"

"What?" Stefan murmured, caught up in the look in her eyes, all happy and loving and wanting.

"Your eyes," Elena placed a wet, sloppy kiss on his forehead. "They're so pretty. So _beautiful_, like you."

Stefan patted her butt. "You're beautiful. And adorable when you're drunk."

"I'm not drunk!" Elena protested. "After all, I can still do this!"

Clumsily, she stood up and tried to turn a cartwheel; Stefan caught her and they tumbled to the ground together, both giggling.

"Okay, maybe just a little..." Elena got out, slyly peering at Stefan.

She grabbed his hair and kissed him, and Stefan eagerly returned the kiss, keeping one hand pressed against the small of her back, the other moving to her legs. Wet, sloppy, open kisses became harder and heated; Elena fumbled with his belt while Stefan pushed her skirt up, pulled her underwear aside. They made love on the lawn, Elena mewling in his ear, her hands pressed against him and he can't believe they're doing this, that they hadn't done this before. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her, watched her as she moved above him, wishes she could know how exquisite she looked in that moment.

"You're mine," Elena murmured when she'd fallen back against his chest, her hand finding his. He ran his hand along the neckline of her shirt, slipping beneath the thin material and tracing the edges of her bra, and she sighed happily against his neck. "Mine."

"I love you," Stefan whispered and she nipped his neck lightly.

He really didn't want to move, even thinking that maybe they could just spend the night out there; the sky was clear and it was fairly warm out, and it's not like anyone was likely to stumble across them. Still, he somehow managed to untangle his body from hers and gathered her into this arms again; she mumbled something as he carried her into the house, something faint that Stefan wouldn't have heard without the vampire hearing and the words made him smile as he held her even closer. Someone he managed to get the door open, and luckily found a quiet house. Damon was out somewhere and Stefan didn't feel guilty at all for how relieved he was about that.

She's half-asleep already when Stefan brought her to his room, barely able to pull her clothes off and pull on one of his discarded shirts before falling heavily into bed. He crawled in next to her and she pulled him close, settling her body half on top of his, curling her toes next to his calf. There's a warm, goofy smile on his face, one he can't get rid of as he slipped his arms around her, fingering her spine and fisting her hair; he loves her, Elena, the gloomy graveyard girl who was a bit of a lightweight, the girl who tried so hard to save the people around her and yet still could smile and laugh, even when she wasn't under the influence.

He loves her, no matter what.

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><p>Stefan told her that the next day; it was late in the afternoon and Elena's suffering from a miserable hangover.<p>

"Sorry," she mumbled. She looked awful, she knew, sweaty and tired and disgusting. Her hair was a wreck, and her stomach was fighting against her and definitely winning. "I'm disgusting."

"You're not," Stefan pulled her hair back. "Elena, you're not."

All day he's been her personal doctor, fetching her water and pain relievers, cooking her food when her stomach settled, making sure the room's dark enough so she wouldn't be bothered by the sunlight. He lay next to her on the bed, settling behind her and rubbing her back.

"You said something last night," Stefan said slowly.

Elena laughed. "I bet I said a lot of things. I seem to recall doing things too, or was that just a lovely dream?"

"Definitely not a dream," he told her and she laughed again. His voice became soft and serious again as he spoke,"You said something about bad things happening to you, around you, and you didn't know why I'm still with you."

She's quiet for a moment. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing the right thing, being with you. Staying here. Maybe Katherine had the right idea, run away and rely on only herself, but... if I run they'll hurt you, hurt everyone. So I can't run, but then if you're with me you're in even more danger," he can tell she's trying not to cry by the strain in her voice. "Sometimes I wonder if it would just be better if you left me."

Elena turned around before Stefan could say anything. "I just want you to be safe, Stefan, and people die around me- die because of me."

Stefan pulled her close and she cried against his chest. "Honey," his voice broke; he rarely called her that, only when they were alone and even then he was more likely to call her Love or Lena or Baby. "Honey, it's not your fault, it's not you..."

After a while her tears mostly stop and she's able to breathe normally again, her face still buried against his shirt. She had spent most of the day that way, claiming he blocked the sunlight better than a pillow.

"I love all of you," Stefan murmured. "I love you. It doesn't matter to me if you're angry or happy or dressed up or sick, I love _you_, Elena. No matter how many bad things happen, I will always love you."

It may be one of the cheesiest things he's ever said, but also one of the truest.

Elena looked up at him, and ever so slowly, a ghost of a smile appeared on her face, a real one following and Stefan held her close, kissing her tears and feeling her arms settle around him, a feeling he could never get enough of. She felt the same way.


End file.
